awarded in 2012

John Phillips (dec)*

John was a past Chairman of ANCOLD, the ANCOLD Tailings Subcommittee and Australian representative on the ICOLD Tailings Committee. He was lead author of the 1999 ANCOLD Tailings Guidelines and peer reviewer of the 2012 Guidelines. He was President of the Engineers Australia WA Division in 2006 and Chairman of the WA Centre of Engineering Leadership and Management.

He was the past Chairman of GHD, a multi-disciplinary consulting company which employs over 8,000 staff in Australia and 14 other countries.

John initially worked for the Commonwealth Government on rocket launching facilities at Woomera, the design of foundations for a number of Reserve Bank buildings and the international terminals at Tullamarine and Mascot.

His 40 years’ experience with GHD has focused on dams, mining infrastructure and water management and has resulted in six Engineering Excellence Awards He worked in eleven countries covering over 90 major tailings dams, 20 major water dams and three dams built into the sea. He continues to provide audits, peer reviews, design advice and legal advice to a wide range of mining clients.

* John passed away in 2023.